Colchester Garrison

Bob Russell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 1 July 2002, Official Report, column 36W, if he will re-evaluate the terms of the Private Finance Initiative of the new Colchester Garrison; and if he will make a statement. [67090]

Mr. Ingram [holding answer 5 July 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) on 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 232W.

Nuclear Missile Defence

Dr. Tonge:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure is planned on nuclear missile defence. [66685]

Mr. Hoon [holding answer 3 July 2002]: We plan to spend about £4 million on missile defence-related activities, which consist solely of collaborative research and information exchange between the United Kingdom and the United States on ballistic missile defence technologies.

Narcotics

Mr. Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list the dedicated counter-narcotics activities of the British armed forces and the costs of these activities in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement; [67562]

8 Jul 2002 : Column 717W

(2) what quantities of narcotics have been confiscated by HM forces in each of the past five years. [67563]

Mr. Ingram:
There are no military assets dedicated to counter narcotics activities and consequently no cost directly attributable to the Ministry of Defence. Military forces are, however, made available upon request, when operational commitments and resources allow, to support the counter drugs activities of the law enforcement agencies. Any additional costs for this support are reimbursed by the agency concerned.

Counter narcotics operations requiring military support resulted in the seizure of drugs valued at £2.3 billion in 19992000 and £40 million in 200102. There were no seizures resulting from operations involving military support in 199798, 199899 or 200001.

Falklands Commemorations

Mr. Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what events he has attended this year in connection with Falklands conflict commemorations. [67570]

Mr. Ingram:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence visited the Falklands Islands in March and attended a service of commemoration at the Liberation Memorial in Stanley.

Following his visit to the islands he also laid a wreath at the memorial in Buenos Aires to commemorate the Argentine service men who died during the conflict.

I visited the islands in June to represent Her Majesty's Government at commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of the end of the conflict.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Mr. Randall:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what British military aid is being given to the FYR of Macedonia; [67182]

(2) what his policy is on future military aid to the FYR of Macedonia. [67183]

Mr. Ingram:
There has been no significant change to British military aid being provided to Macedonia or future policy in that respect since the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 26 March 2002, Official Report, columns 85455W.

Iraq

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his Department's compliance with UN decisions concerning Iraq. [63810]

Mr. Hoon:
Government policy towards Iraq has been developed within the framework of UN Security Council Resolutions.

The British armed forces continue to play an important role in enforcing as far as possible, UNSCRs against Iraq. Royal Navy vessels continue to make a valuable contribution to the Multinational Interception Force deployed in the Gulf to verify Iraqi compliance with UN sanctions. Royal Air Force aircraft patrol the Iraqi No Fly Zones in support of UN SCR 688, which demanded an end to Saddam's brutal repression of his own people. We also contribute a small contingent of British armed forces

8 Jul 2002 : Column 718W

personnel to the UN Iraq Kuwait Observer Mission established under UN SCR 687 to monitor the UN defined border and demilitarised zone between Iraq and Kuwait.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Academic Staff

Mr. Cousins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will estimate the numbers of academic staff on short-term contracts in each university in England and Wales since 1997 (a) in total numbers and (b) as a percentage of total academic staff. [62031]

Margaret Hodge:
The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

EU Directives

Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the EU directives relating to her Department which have been (a) amended and (b) repealed in 2002. [64938]

Margaret Hodge:
My Department is currently working on legislation to amend the implementing regulations for directive 92/51/EEC. This has arisen out of directive 2001/19/EC which makes various amendments to several European directives relating to recognition of qualifications. The implementation date of directive 2001/19/EC is 1 January 2003.

No other EU directives have been amended in 2002, and none has been repealed.

Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the EU directives and regulations that have been implemented through her Department in 2002; and what was the cost of each to public funds. [64988]

Margaret Hodge:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 10 April 2002.

No EU directives or regulations have been implemented through my Department in 2002. There has therefore been no cost to public funds.

Universities

Sir Nicholas Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the link between staffing levels and the quality of teaching and research in universities. [65205]

Margaret Hodge:
The Department has carried out no specific assessment of links between staffing levels and the quality of teaching and research in universities. However, the recently completed QAA eight-year cycle of subject reviews in higher education, which included an assessment of teaching quality, has identified only 1 per cent. of unsatisfactory provision. In addition, the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise showed that 55 per cent. of research staff now work in departments which contain work of international excellence (rated five or five-star) compared with 31 per cent. in the previous exercise in 1996. Staffing levels in higher education have increased by 10 per cent. over the last five years and so have student numbers.

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Sir Nicholas Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the level of funding provision for the university of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology; and what plans she has to increase funding for UMIST. [65206]

Margaret Hodge:
The funding of individual institutions is determined by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which allocated total resources of £36.7 million to the university of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology for the academic year 200102. For the year 200203, it plans to allocate £36.9 million.

Sir Nicholas Winterton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on amalgamation of universities to create centres of academic excellence; and if she will make a statement. [65208]

8 Jul 2002 : Column 720W

Margaret Hodge:
The Government recognise the importance of having universities able to compete with the best in the world and support higher education institutions in their pursuit of excellence. We will encourage and support universities who wish to choose amalgamation to promote excellence within the constraints of both our powers and availabilities of resources.

Student Statistics

Mr. Willis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time students were in (i) FE and (ii) HE in each of the years 199293 to 200102. [65398]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 1 July 2002]: The information is shown in the table.

Number of students on higher and further education coursesEngland

Higher education(18)

Further education(19)

Full-time

Part-time

Total

Full-time

Part-time

Total

199293

726,300

425,900

1,188,200

592,000

1,169,400

1,761,400

199394

848,800

453,100

1,301,900

646,300

1,282,800

1,929,100

199495

903,900

515,400

1,419,300

847,100

2,062,900

2,910,000

199596

927,100

567,200

1,494,200

967,900

2,431,800

3,399,700

199697

943,900

589,900

1,533,900

1,019,000

2,783,000

3,802,000

199798

976,800

591,400

1,568,200

979,100

2,788,200

3,767,300

199899

988,400

603,000

1,591,500

961,500

2,700,700

3,662,300

19992000

995,300

614,700

1,610,000

939,300

2,668,800

3,608,100

200001

1,010,200

641,400

1,651,600

922,700

2,748,700

3,671,400

2001/02(20)

1,040,800

650,700

1,691,400

(21)

(21)

(21)

(18) Census count as at 31 December in years up to 199394, and as at 1 December in subsequent years. Covers all home and overseas students on postgraduate and undergraduate courses, including HE students in FE colleges and the Open University.

(19) Includes FE students in HE institutions in all years, and sixth form colleges as from 199394. Due to a change in data collection, the figures for FE sector colleges for the years 199495 to 200001 are not comparable with those for earlier years; as from 199495 the figures are based on a whole year count of students, whereas in previous years they are based on a snapshot count at 1 November. As from 199495, includes funded and non-funded students.

(20) HE figures are provisional.

(21) Not availablethe whole year count of students in FE sector colleges is collected retrospectively at the end of the academic year.

Note:

Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred; components may therefore not sum to totals.